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Friday, July 23, 2010

My Week in Comics is a weekly look into my comic book buying habits. Keep in mind that the reviews to be read here are not coming from a jaded, old comic book enthusiast but more of a wide-eyed fan of these monthly installments of yum or mush.

Ninja girls and magic tricks about my week's worth of comics. How do they stack up? Read on and see what I got myself into!

Paul Dini wraps up Zatanna’s beef with Brother Night in Zatanna #3. After trying to rid of The Princess of Prestidigitation with nightmare demons and killer effigies, Brother Night decides it's time to deal with Zatanna once and for all, with the mystic might of Hell at his command!

Anyway, I know this will sound strange, but I wished this arc was…longer.

Crazy, I know. After ragging on about Bendis stretching the flimsiest of concepts into years of storylines, I would be the last person to like padding out a story into a “trade-friendly” length. But I really felt an extra issue would have done a service to Dini’s initial arc here in Zatanna. They could have fleshed out Brother Night’s motivations more, or at least built him up for a credible threat, especially with Zatanna's casually powerful showing in the last two books. Two issues of pissing off one of the premier names in magic in the DCU and the worst Brother Night could do was lure her to a straight-up magic fight? Where’s the tension, the fiendish trickery?

Stephane Roux’s pencils at least hit the right notes with his art, and aside from a few strange composition choices, Roux made Zatanna a good-looking book to read. As a whole, the entire first arc is a great intro for Zatanna in today’s DCU. With the way she's being set up as powerhouse, let’s hope our Mistress of Magic doesn’t burn herself out early. This one’s a 4 out of 5.

And then we come to Street Fighter Legends: Ibuki #3, courtesy of Jim Zubkavich and artist Omar Dogan. Once again, the Udon team knocks it out of the park with another great book that ups the action quotient of the entire series so far by 500% and at the same time making Ibuki a very real and likable character, which in my book is no mean feat.

Zubkavich promised more action in this ish, and he didn’t disappoint. Ibuki finally comes face to face with Oro, the man she was tasked to defeat, and Dogan makes use of his anime-style art to full effect. The cleanliness and ease in knowing what’s happening in every panel is staggering. Dogan’s got sequential storytelling down pat.

It’s a good sign that I’m falling more and more in love with Ibuki’s character with every issue. Once you can relate to a character, you’re hooked. Coupled with good clean art, this is how comics should be done. The multiple splash pages they used to advertise their other comics could have better served as more story pages to lessen the sting of the $3.95 (P200 here in Manila) price tag, but that’s a minor if not entirely insignificant peeve for me. Can’t wait for #4. Ibuki gets a 4 out of 5. Get the series while you can. This is great reading.

Two awesome comics in a single week? "Not bad" is a severe understatement!

That's it for this week's comics. Agree? Disagree? Do you think Ibuki could take on Zatanna in a straight-up fight? Hit the comments and let's talk about it! Thanks for reading!

Be the grains of sand, and nothing but time will take you. The rocks must become it, the waves and wind must bear it and those who would hold it find it slips through their grasp. Always some trace in a faraway nook, if never the whole is seen again.